This is dedicated to fellow Wattpad User, Sarah (bunny290199)! Hope you like it!
Also, I will no longer be taking anymore requests for one shots. Sorry, guys.
I sit on the bleachers of our school's soccer field with my friends watching our boys soccer team practice. I hear their kicks and grunts and laughter as they go through their routine.
Of all the 11 players on the field, my eyes are really only following one: Rafael.
I don't like to admit it, but I've had a pretty large crush on him for a long time. You can't blame me though. He's a pretty great guy. He's about 6'2, lean and lanky with brown hair and these even darker brown eyes that, when trained at me, make me weak at the knees. His smile makes my stomach fill with butterflies and the sound of his voice just puts a smile on my face. And not just his looks: He's clever, sweet and friendly.
All of his friends call him Raf.
I glance at my friend Lori who had been staring at me for God knows how long.
When her gaze doesn't waver, I swivel a bit to face her.
"What?" I question, in regards to her look of deep concentration and mild frustration.
"Are you kidding me, Sarah? I know you're staring at Raf."
My eyes widen and my cheeks get hot. I look away from her and my eyes, as if I on their own volition, land on Raf. I look away quickly and stare at my lap.
"I am not."
"You just looked at him." She says matter-of-factly.
My other friend, Layla, leans over to grin at me.
"Lori's not lying. You're always staring at him. And plus, isn't he part of why you join us at practices?"
"Exactly! If you're that head over heels in love with him, go talk to him! I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to tell you this, Sarah! He's a nice guy! The worst he can say is... He wouldn't even say a bad thing!"
I look at her with puppy dog eyes and jut out my lower lip.
"But it's not that easy." I say sulkily.
"For God's sake, yes it is." She says, with a roll of her eyes.
She then notices that the boys are taking a water break and then she starts frantically calling Raf over to our place on the bleachers.
"Raf! Hey, Rafael!" She hollers.
Rafael walks over then with Jake, Layla's boyfriend. Jake slides into the bleacher and greets us, before continuing to chat with Layla.
"Hey, guys." Raf says, smiling that adorable smile.
I can't help but smile back.
"You're pretty good out there in the field." Lori says to him. "Don't you think so, Sarah?" She nudges me.
I look at her, narrowing my eyes before turning back to Rafael and smiling.
"Yup. You're amazing." I respond, trying to sound totally relaxed about it.
"Thanks," He smiles wider. "Hey, us guys really appreciate you girls coming here. We love the support. It's nice to see your faces rooting us on from the bleachers, even if it's just during practice." He continues, staring straight at me as he talks.
I feel my cheeks enflame under his gaze.
"It's our pleasure." Lori answers.
The soccer coach blows a whistle and the boys head back down into the field.
Lori bounces excitedly in her seat, and grabs my shoulder.
"Did you or did you not see the way he was looking at you when he said that?" She says.
"What look?" I say with a smirk.
She smiles at me shaking her head.
"Oh, Sarah. You clueless little thing."
~•~•~
Practice ends soon and we wait for the guys to come out of the locker room so that we could talk to them a bit.
Raf and Jake trickle out of the main school building with a bunch of their teammates.
They notice us and come over, grinning.
We all start heading over to the lot, as Jake reenacts little scenes from their practice as we laugh at his goofiness.
Raf then bumps my shoulder with his and smiles down at me.
"Whatcha got there?" He asks, indicating my notebook.
"Oh," I say, looking at it and then instinctively hiding it behind my back. "That's just nothing."
Obviously, it wasn't actually nothing. It was the notebook that'd I'd had with me for years now. I wrote down most of my deep thoughts in there.
"So, you're keeping secrets now, huh, Sarah?"
I smile wryly. "What secrets? I'm an open book."
Raf grins at me. "Yeah, about as open as a prison."
I laugh and shake my head at him.
Then he says, "But I guess it'd be unfair of me to say that. I want to know more about you, Sarah."
I look up at him then, and find him looking deeply at me with his dark eyes.
I smile coyly and say, "What do you want to know?"
"So much that we couldn't possibly cover it in this short walk to the parking lot."
I noticed then that we'd kind split apart from the rest of the group who were nearing the cars.
"Let me take you out. On a date."
I look at him, surprised. For a split second I think, am I dreaming?
He looks like it had taken him a bit of nerve to ask the question and his eyes hold a bit of uncertainty.
I offer him a broad grin and respond with, "That sounds fantastic."
~•~•~
A week passes and our planned date finally approaches. We'd exchanged numbers, so we'd been texting a lot before the date. We'd found our we'd had quite a few things in common.
Before the date, Raf had texted me asking if I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to which I responded with a firm yes.
We'd planned our date to be on a Saturday evening. He said he'd come and pick me up and that I didn't really need to bring anything other than myself and my cellphone.
Around 6pm, the doorbell rings and I run up to the door. I fling the door open and Raf, who had been adjusting the collar of his button down shirt drops his hands and then grins at me.
"Hey, there, Sarah. You rea--"
My mom comes up behind me, grinning maniacally.
"Hello." She says, cheerfully. "Sarah, I'm assuming this is your date?"
"Yeah," I say, smiling. "Mom, this is Rafael. Raf, this is my mom."
"It's nice to meet you, ma'am." He says politely and reaches his hand out to shake my mom's.
"Well, I hope you take good care of my daughter tonight." She says, giving him a look.
"But, of course." He says, grinning. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and says, "You can trust me."
"Mmhmm."
My mom fixes my hair a little bit and then smiles and says, "Have a good time you two."
We hop into his car and he starts the engine and we're off.
"Your mom is really nice." He comments.
"Thanks. I think she likes you." I respond.
"That's good. I'd want to be on your parents good sides, for future dates, of course." He says slyly.
I blush and say, "We're gonna have to see how you do tonight before I can guarantee that, Mister."
He laughs and says, "Well, I'll be on my best behavior."
He reaches over and turns on the radio to the pop station. During the car ride we sing a long and laugh at each others attempts to reach high notes.
We arrive at a beach, and when he parks the car, he pulls a picnic basket and blanket out of his backseat.
"Whoa, did you read my mind on the perfect date or something?" I say, raising an eyebrow at him.
We start walking towards the beach then and I offer to hold one of the items.
He says, "I've got it, princess."
I narrow my eyes at him and say, "My feminist side feels affronted."
"Well, I'd love to accommodate you." He says, and hands me the large blanket.
I take it and wrap my arms around it and smile at him over the top of it.
We make it to the beach and lay out the blanket. He sets the basket down and we sit down across from each other with the basket between us.
He whips out a container with two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to my delight, and says, "I worked very hard to make these perfect for you, Sarah."
I grin and say, "I'll try my very best to enjoy them fully."
He opens the container and lets me take a sandwich. He also pulls out a bag of potato chips from his basket and offers me the option of soda or water.
I take a bite into the sandwich and chew thoughtfully for a while.
Raf is staring at me intently, waiting for my reaction.
"You know, I think this may be the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich I've ever tasted."
Raf grins and does a fist bump. "Yes!"
I laugh and say, "Seriously, though. There's just the right ratio of peanut butter to jelly. It's...delectable."
He laughs and we continue eating and chatting about everything and anything. Talking to him was so easy. I felt like we'd been talking for way longer than a week.
We finish eating and we pack everything up.
I pat my belly and announce, "A supremely satisfying meal."
"Thank you, thank you." He says modestly and bows.
I laugh. He tells me to wait right where I am while he returns the stuff to the car and that he'd be right back.
I watch the beginning of the sunset while he's gone. He returns quickly and stands next to me, smiling.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" He says.
I nod, smiling.
He reaches his hand out and entwines our fingers and we start walking down along the beach near the shore.
We exchange funny stories about our families and talk about school and soccer and books.
Eventually, we stop to watch the sun retreat beneath the water. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and draws me closer to his side, saying, "I'm glad you agreed to come out with me."
"I'm glad you asked me to come out with you." I respond smiling up at him.
He looks down at me and then cups my cheek with his palm. I stare up at him wide eyed.
He leans down toward me and then presses his lips against mine, softly.
I reached my hands up into his soft dark hair and kiss him back. He deepened the kiss and moved his hand around my waist.
He smelled like cologne and tasted faintly of his delectable peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
We break apart the kiss and smile goofily at one another. His thumb strokes my cheek.
"And a supremely satisfying kiss." I say.
"Thank you, thank you."
We laugh and head back to the car hand in hand.
